"Piece Process" May 10, 2024

[wescovington]

Made it ashore fairly quickly this time.

[FKelly]

On the beach, somewhere in the Catskills.
I've been thinking about this theme all week. Shenk is a mind reader!
How about a brain er ... ear worm?

[benchen71]

This is (for me, anyway) the meta I have encountered of the twenty or so of these I have done. J just registered to ask whether it is experience or was this one particularly ?

The more metas you do, the more you build up a library of possible meta mechanisms that can be "mixed and matched" in various ways.

However, after a while, you will have such a large range of mechanisms that it can be hard to move past unintentional red herrings!

[Al Sisti]

Finally on shore. Sometimes you see it, sometimes you don't. Sometimes you need to just go straight to the Guinness and earn it later.

[KayW]

Ashore. Lovely meta, but that grid was a PIECE of work.

Late start due to a date with an archaeopteryx.

[VanVeen]

Got it. However, I have to add: I know the constructors claim they don't put red herrings in their puzzles, but it sure seemed like there were a couple of intentionally rosy fish swimming around in there.

Now off to go listen to a piece by 55-down

[Berto]

Ashore!
Took quite some time but finally pieced it together.

[Katiedid]

Ashore!
I don't usually do the Friday puzzle on Thursday, but it's going to be a busy weekend. It was fun, and now I don't have to worry about it!

[BarbaraK]

This is (for me, anyway) the meta I have encountered of the twenty or so of these I have done. J just registered to ask whether it is experience or was this one particularly ?

Hello and welcome!

You ask a tricky question. It's hard to rate the difficulty of these puzzles. In any meta, even the hardest, the correct mechanism just happens to be the first thing that someone tries. And even the easiest metas just happen to land in a blind spot for some solvers. So any one person's experience can be deceiving. The early comments here often suggest that the meta is easy, just because the people who didn't get it quickly are still working on it, not posting here on the forum. Cruise Director Bob's Saturday report on the numbers who are "at sea" (haven't solved yet) vs. "on shore (have got an answer) is a better indication of how it's going. And of course Mike Miller's report on Monday or Tuesday about the actual number of submissions really tells the story.

Personally, I did not find this one super obvious, like some folks apparently did, but it didn't take me that long to see it either. So I'll pull out my often cloudy crystal ball and predict that it will turn out to have a higher than average number of correct submissions but not the highest of the last 20 weeks. So, yes, you can assume you are getting better at these. Just be careful not to get too overconfident as the crossword gods do not take kindly to hubris:)

And if you're wondering why your post was edited, on this board, while people will often comment about how quickly they solved, we generally try to avoid calling a particular meta "easy" so those who are struggling (and there are always some, and everyone's time will come to be that someone) don't feel bad. It's kind of an etiquette thing that has turned into an inside joke which perhaps our diligent moderators are a bit over the top in enforcing? I assume they did that to your post, not that you posted anything that was actually a spoiler, or even should have been expected to know about this "rule".

[DavyGravy]

Ashore with some hints

[Scooby]

Ashore. Much harder time filling the grid!

[Trish]

On shore with a sudden inspiration that turned out to be just the right path!

[emmy]

Ashore! I was confused until it hit me all of a sudden

[CptnCodon]

And yet more Pittsburgh references... I'm wondering if Mike has an uncle that lives there or if it's just the Baader–Meinhof phenomenon.

[Schmeel]

Ashore!

[Miki]

Early morning solve. It had to be done, as today we are driving 7 hours to attend our son's hooding ceremony - law school graduation. We are so, so proud.

[mikeB]

On the beach -- and there is a lot of beach to go around, here in Namibe, Angola. Pretty tough (and entertaining) grid in my case, followed by a fairly straightforward solve. A high return on investment.

[Mirage]

On shore. Another inspiration upon awakening. That seems to be where I’m doing my best solving lately.

Loved @BarbaraK’s post above. Sometimes you quickly see the meta and other times not. I may get discouraged when many Muggles post they are on shore and I’m struggling even to see a path. But I’ve also learned that if I’m at sea, so are others hoping for inspiration before posting their “at sea” status on Saturday or Sunday.

And thanks @BarbaraK for the comment about the crossword gods and hubris. You gave me a good chuckle and a reminder to keep my head low.

[Kas]

“On shore!!!”, said the Muggle,
And it’s certainly true
That he said it quite smugly,
Between me and you…

How he crowed! How he preened!
How he puffed out his chest!!
(It was pretty disgusting,
his Big Ego Fest.)

But let us not judge him,
His solve rate is tiny…
…that bar stool at Isaac’s
Has been shaped by his heinie.

[clonefitz]

on the beach!